22: Inside the Campaign That Broke the Rules and Made History with guest Jane Nguyen

Blueprint for California Advocates

If Kenneth Mejia’s groundbreaking campaign for Los Angeles City Controller isn’t on your radar it needs to be.

In November 2022, Mejia made history by becoming the first Asian American elected to citywide office in LA. Not only did he win in the second-largest city in the United States, but he also did it in a landslide — earning just over 63% of the vote.

So how’d he do it?

Meet his campaign manager, Jane Nguyen.

A long-time LA housing rights activist, Nguyen had no prior experience in electoral politics before she took the helm and helped make history.

As she explains, the campaign ignored much of the traditional campaign playbook, choosing instead to introduce Mejia to voters as authentically as possible with value-added messages that focused on communities often ignored by political candidates.

Episode breakdown:

02:22 — From activism to Chief of Staff for the Los Angeles City Controller

04:23 — Ditch the rule book

06:24 — Fundraising strategy

08:32 — People want authenticity

10:58 — Don’t sleep on TikTok

14:20 — Messaging that adds value

18:16 — Personalize, personalize, personalize

21:12 — Celebrating a historical win

24:08 — What winning a campaign really comes down to

Click here for the full transcript and video: https://kbhadvocacy.com/podcast/campaign-history

📚RESOURCES MENTIONED

Find Jane Nguyen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theglowingstars

City Controller Mejia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LAController

LA Time Endorsement: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-10-10/endorsement-kenneth-mejia-city-controller

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